The Borrowed Dress in the Documentary Films Competition of the Silk Road International Film Festival in Ireland

The Borrowed Dress in the Documentary Films Competition of the Silk Road International Film Festival in Ireland

The documentary film The Borrowed Dress by director Leen Alfaisal is going to compete within the Documentary Films competition of the 5th Silk Road International Film Festival (SRIFF) in Dublin, Ireland (7-11 March). With the attendance of its director, Leen Alfaisal, the film will screen on Thursday, March 8 at 01:00 AM.

The Silk Road International Film Festival screens a special selection of films from the "Silk Road" countries part of the historical network of the Silk Road ancient trade routes. The selection called "Belt & Road" includes Asian, Arab, Middle Eastern, African, Mediterranean and European cinema.

The Borrowed Dress world premiered at the London International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema, where it competed for three prestigious awards; Best Foreign Language Documentary, Best Director of a Foreign Language Documentary and the Best Editing of a Short Documentary.

The film's story follows Grandmother Susu (80 years old), her daughter Doaa (50 years old), and her grandchild Saad (16 years old) who are forced to flee Syria after the beginning of the revolution to live in different scattered places, having only one thing left to share that is their desire to reunite. The details of their personal stories and human experiences are microcosms of two stories: one of a population that has spread all over the world, and the other of a homeland that might have changed forever.

Written and directed by Leen Alfaisal, The Borrowed Dress is produced by Sarah Hassan and Alaa Alassad (Creative Media Solutions). The film stars Siham Abu Nabbout, Doaa Al Zoabi and Saad Alkuwatly. The Borrowed Dress is distributed by MAD Solutions in the Arab world.

Leen Alfaisal is a Dubai-based video producer and camerawoman working at CNN International. Alfaisal graduated with honors from the American University in Dubai, with a major in Journalism and a minor in Middle Eastern Studies and Documentary Film.

The Borrowed Dress is her first venture into feature documentary directing. She directed her first short documentary film, Without a Frame, during university, which made it into the final selection of Original Narrative Student Short Film Festival in Dubai and Arab Short Film Festival in Beirut.